Eric Nadel on Rangers' MVP: "It’s Beltre slam dunk"

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Charlie Riedel/AP

Kansas City Royals' Justin Maxwell is caught stealing third by Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre to end the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 20, 2013, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Rangers radio broadcaster Eric Nadel went on ESPN Radio's "Galloway and Company" to talk Rangers. Here are some highlights.

On giving up on this
season:

You never say that. You never say that. You just seen to
many strange things happen in the game. There certainly have been points where you
think, “I don’t believe in my heart right now that this team is going to do it,”
but I’m wrong a lot, and that sort of attitude as in the case of any fan can
change from day to day or from inning to inning within a game, especially as
unpredictable as this team has turned out to be.

On a split against Tampa
Bay:

I think the most encouraging thing was Mitch Moreland again
showing serious signs of life. Now we’ve had this happen a few times this year.
Matt [Hicks] and I have commented over the course of a few days, “Moreland’s
hitting the ball well. He’s hitting the ball the opposite way, blah blah blah,”
and he never sustains it for more than a week. We’ll see if he’s able to
sustain this one. It would be fantastic for this team if Moreland actually does
get hot for whole last two weeks of the season. The other thing in a similar vein
encouraging: the way Robbie Ross through the ball yesterday. He hit his spots
consistently. It’s not just the two perfect innings, but the way he threw. I
thought those two things were extremely good signs. And the fact that Derek
Holland got his fastball command back other than the one hiccup the home run he
gave up. He looked like the real Derek Holland again.

On the state of the
wild card race:

I’m most worried about Cleveland
as so many people are, because of their piece of cake schedule. And they’re
also playing very well right now, so you combine those two things… the fact
that they’ve got an easy schedule the rest of the way, the fact that they’re
12-6 in their last 18 games, so things have come together for them nicely.
Terry Francona’s done a fantastic job there. They would be the one team right
now I would have to say is a definite favorite to win one of the two wild card
berths. As far as the other one, who I’m most worried about, I’m not sure. I
always worry about the Orioles based on what they did last year, based on what they
did to the Rangers in the wild card game, based on what they did to the Rangers
this season. I know they have a touch schedule, and yet, I probably have more
respect for the Orioles right now than I do for any of the other contenders in
the wild card race.

On the current series
against the Royals:

I’ve said all along about this schedule—the games will be
progressively more important each day, and that’s definitely the case on this road
trip. Meanwhile, Baltimore and Tampa Bay
are meeting over the course of the next few days. This is fantastic. You’re
scoreboard watching left and right, and the game right in front of you is
incredibly important, it’s fantastic, and here we are in Kansas City, it’s 70
degrees, what could be better as a baseball fan?

On the suggestion to vote
Nelson Cruz for Rangers MVP due to the team’s performance after his suspension:

I’m amused by that … And I think the point is very well
taken. The Rangers since Cruz got hurt I think were two games above .500 and what
are they since, 21-19 or something after that. Clearly he’s extremely valuable,
but I throw out to you, what do you think the Rangers’ record would have been
over the last 40 games if it had been Beltre and not Cruz who’d been out of the
lineup? … We know that Beltre carried the team on its back for the first month
that Cruz was out and for much of the four months prior to that, which his why
his back is broken right now. But to me, it’s Beltre slam dunk. Yes, Cruz is
extremely important to this team. There’s no question about that, but if you’re
talking about the actual award, I’m going all the way with Adrian.

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